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The CFCS is dedicated to addressing the challenges of financial crime and threat finance to the UK and international security and the important role finance can play in identifying and disrupting a range of globally-recognised threats.

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Since launching in 2014 the CFCS has become the research-led partner of choice for policymakers and private sector actors seeking to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of current approaches to tackling money laundering and terrorist financing in the UK and globally.

To achieve a step-change in the outcome of current responses to financial crime, the CFCS takes a research-led and policy-focused approach, leveraging the complementary skills of the public and private sectors. Our objective is to: transform the ways in which financial crime and threat finance can be identified and disrupted; and harness public/private partnerships to consider not only contemporary threats but also those that may emerge as a result of the changing landscape of technology, geopolitics, and regulation.

In pursuit of these objectives, the CFCS conducts empirical research and analysis to build a strong evidence base from which policymakers and practitioners can develop improved responses and best practice.

CFCS work is thus characterised by a constant emphasis on the risk-based approach, the role of public/private partnerships, information sharing and effectiveness.

CFCS staff also partner with others at RUSI where the addition of a financial perspective can provide a further dimension to existing research disciplines, such as environmental and organised crime and nuclear proliferation.

Focus

The team’s research is focused on:

Enhancing the effectiveness of UK and international financial crime responses, including the role of public/private partnerships via the Future of Financial Intelligence Sharing (FFIS) project

Rethinking approaches to countering terrorist financing, including assessing the role of new technologies, the threat of lone-actor and small cell terror finance and the crime/terror nexus

Researching the design and implementation of financial sanctions

Addressing high-end money laundering and the involvement of professional advisors, especially in the context of large-scale corruption

Assessing the risks and opportunities presented by new technologies in the context of money laundering and terrorist financing (including virtual currencies, social media, links with cybercrime, partnerships with new actors within and outside the financial system, and opportunities offered by RegTech) via our Financial Crime 2.0 project

Partnering across RUSI on issues such as human trafficking, illegal wildlife trade, and nuclear proliferation where a financial dimension can enhance the Institute’s research output.

Activity

Contributing to policy discussions within the UK and in international bodies such as the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce, the Financial Action Task Force and its regional bodies, and the United Nations, including giving evidence to both UK and international parliamentary enquiries and speaking at international forums such as the UN Security Council

Publishing reports with evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders

There is often a perceived tension between the financial-inclusion and financial-crime agendas. However, the two aims can be complementary, and the emergence of global standards on a ‘risk-based approach’ to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance offer a real opportunity to move the two initiatives forward in tandem.

Over the last decade, the US and EU have constructed a complex network of sanctions in response to Iran’s nuclear programme, ensuring the near-total isolation of Iran from global markets. On ‘implementation day’, this network starts to be disassembled and reintegration begin.

Recent reports shed light on Al-Shabaab’s evolving financing model. While charcoal remains key, sugar smuggling is playing an increasing role. Funding from illegal ivory, a focus of much distracting debate, is noticeable only in its absence.

Corporate

Individual

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